My Mission
Welcome to my blog. My name is Eric Harbin. I am a missionary. I’m sure that word can mean different things depending on who you are and where you are from. You might have even put me into a pre-determined category in your mind once you read that I am a missionary. For some, I’m radical or weird. You think I live in the jungle where I am trying to save a pre-historic tribe from their way of life. I may not live in the jungle as you imagine it, but I do live in the concrete jungle of Catania, Italy. For another, I’m a hero. You think that God only calls the insanely qualified. In other words, I’ve attained the status of missionary through unwavering faith and a crazy knowledge of God and His Word. I’m definitely no superhero of the faith. I’m just your average dude surrendering my life to Jesus. And for others, I’m a white Christian trying to convert people and conform them and their ways into a white man’s religion. Well, I am a white Christian, but I am definitely not conforming people into a white man’s religion. Unfortunately, there is a sad history of this happening in the name of “Christian mission.” However, I hope to join the many men and women who have partnered with Jesus in His Great Commission the right way. I long to see the people of Italy, and migrants from all over Africa and the Middle East, repent and believe in the name of Jesus Christ. This is far from a white man’s religion. Revelation 7:9-10 says,
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Whew! What a sight that will be. I want people from the nations, the tribes, and the languages that do not yet know the saving grace of Jesus Christ to hear the good news they are longing to hear!
My hope in this first post is to explain why I am writing in the first place. I’ve wrestled with some of the same questions that might be in your mind:
“Really?”
“Another blog?”
“What makes you qualified?”
“Why should people even read your thoughts?”
To be clear, I don’t think I’m special. I don’t think I’m the best writer around. In fact, my grammar is terrible. All you English majors out there, please bear with me. Judge the content, not the grammar. And I certainly don’t think I’ve attained some status that gives me automatic influence in your life. My goal is not to convince you to read anything I write. My goal is to be obedient. I believe God has invited me to write. Maybe it is for me. Maybe it is for you. I’m not really sure. All I know is that my deepest desire is to please my Heavenly Father. I write in response to His invitation. However, I do have a hope for what my writing might do in your life and mine.
A few years ago I spent several days seeking God in solitude, silence, and prayer to develop a mission statement for my life. It was an assignment a mentor gave during a retreat. Here is the result of that assignment:
“I am called to influence, develop, and encourage the next generation of spiritual leaders in their pursuit of holiness.”
What started as an assignment has slowly developed into a deep sense of confirmation that this is the very thing Jesus is asking me to do with my life. In many ways, this is my personalized version of the Great Commission that all followers of Jesus are commanded to obey. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says this to His followers,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Honestly, I feel very inadequate to do this very thing. But isn’t that the point? I’m not trying to influence, develop, or encourage anyone to look like me. We don’t need more Eric Harbin’s walking around. I want to influence, develop, and encourage you to pursue holiness. I want you to look like Jesus. I want you to surrender more and more to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. I want you to take seriously the same command given to you to go into all the world and make disciples. I want you to surrender the rest of your life to Jesus. Give Him your plans. Give Him your dreams. Give him your future. Give Him EVERYTHING.
Now let me sign off from my first post with the following prayer from Psalm 19:14:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
